A Glorious Day in Stuart

Another magnificent day beckoned here in Stuart.  It's been getting warmer each day so that now we're up to shorts and tees with flip flops.  I should say "down" to .  I derived a perverse sense of pleasure when I watched the news tonight and saw that it was actually snowing at home.

Today we participated in the St. Patrick's Day festivities in Stuart.  We walked along the scenic River Walk until we were in the heart of the festival.  $3 and a shamrock hand stamp opened the door to an afternoon of shopping, eating, chatting and just being in the moment.

The Pelican Cafe (the site of our lunch later on) was the first photo op on our way into town.  At this point, we are about 5 minutes from our boat.  The marina is under the bridge to the right of the cafe.

One of our first stops was the Stuart Museum.  This museum is devoted entirely to the history of the town, complete with pictures and other memorabilia.  Everyone is so friendly - we found it difficult to tear ourselves away.

Even the benches have meaning....

The gift shop was so quaint and inspired a lot of chatting with perfect strangers who were very willing to chat with us.

While wandering around the museum, I peeked out the back door and was treated to the most beautiful vistas...

All the shopping and chatting made us hungry, so we stopped at the scenic Pelican Cafe (where our adventure began) for lunch.  I was delighted to discover that the tables overlooking the harbor were actually set in sand.  I had the best time wiggling my toes in the sand while enjoying a lunch of fish tacos (a house specialty) accompanied by a Blue Moon beer complete with orange wedge.  Yummy!

When we finally tore ourselves away from this view, we headed back to the boat to change in preparation for round 2 of fun.

Next stop was a ride to Hutchinson Island via Jensen Beach Blvd.  I needed to retrieve the sunglasses I left behind last night, so that gave us the perfect excuse for our afternoon excursion.  Even the town of Jensen Beach welcomed us as we drove through.

Little did we know that Jensen Beach was hosting its annual St. Patrick's Day parade.  That was soon evident as traffic came to a virtual standstill while police alternately let paraders and cars through.  It was such a beautiful day that we just opened the windows and enjoyed the parade.  Glasses retrieved, we took a last look at the ocean and headed back.  This time the town of Stuart welcomed us back...

It turns out there is a history to these arches.  We were so intrigued that we pulled into a parking lot and got out to explore.  Turns out there were several plaques around explaining the history of the arches.  There was even a plaque welcoming us to the actual neighborhood of Rio in which the arches "resided".

Further exploration revealed several other plaques placed in random locations on the arches...

We got back to the boat just in time to get ready for our cocktail guests arrival.  We have the nicest couple on our starboard side that we wanted to have over during our last visit, but it didn't work out.  This time we got our way!  We enjoyed the late afternoon sun that was surprisingly hot, great company, conversation, wine and snacks.

As if this day were not perfect enough, nature put the finishing touches on with another magnificent sunset enjoyed from Serenity's flybridge.

A minute later, the finale...

This is paradise unequalled!